State v. S.L.D.

997 So. 2d 759
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedNovember 5, 2008
DocketNo. 08-549
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 997 So. 2d 759 (State v. S.L.D.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. S.L.D., 997 So. 2d 759 (La. Ct. App. 2008).

Opinion

AMY, Judge.

hA jury convicted the defendant of two of the six counts of felony carnal knowledge of a juvenile charged by the State. After the trial court adjudicated the defendant a fourth felony offender, it imposed concurrent sentences of twenty-five years at hard labor for the convictions. The defendant appeals, questioning the sufficiency of the evidence on one of the convictions and asserting that the trial court erred in permitting the introduction of hearsay evidence. The defendant also questions the habitual offender proceedings. For the following reasons, we affirm.

Factual and Procedural Background

The State alleged that the defendant, S.L.D.1, who was over the age of nineteen, committed one count of felony carnal knowledge of a juvenile, against S.M.S., and five counts of felony carnal knowledge of a juvenile, against A.M. The State further charged the defendant with the aggravated incest of his stepdaughter, J.P.S., then under the age of eighteen years of age. Finally, the State charged the defendant with bail jumping.2

[763]*763|¡>As the defendant’s appeal focuses on the conviction for the count of felony carnal knowledge of a juvenile involving A.M., we set forth the factual history relevant to this appeal. The State alleged that the defendant, S.L.D., born in 1972, perpetuated numerous acts of vaginal and oral sexual intercourse on A.M., born in June 1989. One alleged offense was identified as occurring on or about January 19, 2004, while two each were identified as occurring on or about October 19, 2004, and on or about October 22, 2004.

|sAt trial, A.M. explained that the defendant and his wife were neighbors and friends of her parents. She testified that she had a “crush” on the defendant and admitted that she left home on the night of October 22, 2004 to follow him. She denied having had a sexual encounter with the defendant up to that point. However, she explained that she had told Detective Janet Beebe of the Beauregard Parish Sheriffs Department that she and the defendant had vaginal sexual intercourse that night as well as a few nights before. She could not recall whether she informed Detective Beebe of oral sexual intercourse with the defendant.

However, Detective Beebe testified that she interviewed A.M. on November 1, 2004 and that A.M. stated that she and the defendant had engaged in both oral and vaginal sexual intercourse at various times in 2004. At trial, A.M. contested the veracity of her statement to Detective Beebe, noting that she tried to later recant the statement.

Yet, A.M. testified that, while on a camping trip during 2004, she attempted to perform oral sexual intercourse on the defendant. She contended that he was asleep and/or intoxicated at the time and that he pushed her away.

In a November 2004 statement to Detective Beebe, the defendant explained that [764]*764A.M. had pursued him and had asked her parents to “keep her away from [him].” He denied having sexual intercourse with A.M., but when questioned by Detective Beebe whether he had “engaged in oral sex with her,” the defendant responded:

[S.L.D.] Yes. One night while we was, uh, campin with her mom and them and everybody had left and I was still asleep that morning cause we got pretty drunk the night before and it was real early. It was about daylight and she woke me up havin oral sex with me and uh, from there, ev — after that (inaudible) I just never — she was like a puppy. Couldn’t get away, couldn’t I couldn’t get away from her.

|4He subsequently stated that: “It happened, I think a total of three times.” He denied that he had “given her oral sex and [he] did not force her to do anything.” The transcript also reflects the following exchange:

Beebe: And you said the, the temptation was just there and she just kept on and on and on and you just—
Doyle: Right, I give in like, I know — in the back of my mind, I said you know, just, I knew it was wrong, but it just, when you get drunk like that and then stuff, it happens. Which is my part for drinkin too much.

He reported to Detective Beebe that A.M. had written him letters asking “when we will ever have sex, you know.” The transcript indicates that Detective Beebe inquired whether A.M. was “talking about the oral sex” or “about sexual intercourse?” The defendant responded: “She was talkin about intercourse.” He responded “Yes” when Detective Beebe asked whether the letters were written “after the oral sex then?” The State presented an additional witness, a former friend of A.M., who testified that she witnessed A.M. performing oral sexual intercourse on the defendant at the defendant’s house.

Although the jury acquitted the defendant of four of the offenses involving A.M., it convicted him of felony carnal knowledge of a juvenile on a single count involving oral sexual intercourse with A.M. The jury also convicted the defendant of one count felony carnal knowledge of a juvenile for an offense involving S.M.S and one count of bail jumping. The trial court vacated the bail jumping conviction upon the defendant’s motion for post-verdict judgment of acquittal. The trial court subsequently adjudicated the defendant a fourth felony offender. It imposed concurrent, twenty-five year sentences for the two convictions.

The defendant appeals, assigning the following as error:

| ¡¡I) The evidence introduced at the trial of this case when viewed under the Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 99 S.Ct. 2781[, 61 L.Ed.2d 560] (1979) standard, was insufficient to prove all of the elements of the offense of felony carnal knowledge of juvenile AM, beyond a reasonable doubt.
2) The trial court erred in allowing the State to introduce hearsay evidence in the trial of this case.
3) The trial court erred in denying SLD’s Opposition, Answer/Opposition and his Supplemental Answer/Opposition to the habitual offender bill.
4) The trial court erred in granting the State a continuance of the habitual offender hearing over objection.
5) The State failed to prove that the predicate offenses had not been cleansed from SLD’s record for habitual offender purposes.

In a separate pro se brief, the defendant asserts that the sentences are excessive.

[765]*765DISCUSSION

Errors Patent

In accordance with La.Code Crim.P. art. 920, we review appeals for errors patent on the face of the record. Our review reveals no errors patent.

Sufficiency of the Evidence

The defendant first argues that the State’s evidence was insufficient to prove the elements of the offense of felony carnal knowledge of a juvenile, A.M., under the dictates of Jackson, 443 U.S. 307, 99 S.Ct. 2781. The particular offense for which the jury convicted the defendant, Count 5, involved an act of oral sexual intercourse on or about October 19, 2004. The defendant contends that the only evidence that he engaged in oral sexual intercourse with A.M. during this time frame came from the statement A.M. made to Detective Beebe, but that was later recanted.

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Related

State v. Jackson
99 So. 3d 1019 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2012)
State v. Alvarez
71 So. 3d 1079 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2011)
State v. SLD
997 So. 2d 759 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2008)

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Bluebook (online)
997 So. 2d 759, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-sld-lactapp-2008.